<\/p>\n
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the initiative forms part of a major effort to improve community engagement as the outbreak surpasses 5 000 confirmed cases and 2 325 deaths, making it the country’s most lethal Ebola epidemic on record.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WHO Incident Manager for the Ebola response Dr Thierno Bald\u00e9 said motorbike riders are uniquely positioned to help health authorities because of the role many play in transporting sick people and bodies between communities.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Because of those responsibilities, riders have become one of the groups most exposed to the virus. “The motorbike riders are a key link in the chain of disease surveillance,” Bald\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WHO is now working with motorbike associations across affected areas, providing handwashing stations, disinfectant and training while encouraging riders to become active participants in the outbreak response.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Under the programme, riders are being encouraged to alert health teams whenever they transport someone showing Ebola symptoms, allowing suspected cases to be identified and tested more quickly. “They need to be able to tell us wherever they transport a sick person, contact the surveillance team and enable the suspected case to be tested,” Bald\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The strategy comes as health workers continue to face resistance in some communities. On Monday, an ambulance involved in the Ebola response was attacked, highlighting the challenges confronting emergency teams. “Almost on a daily basis we face some kind of reaction from the communities,” Bald\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Despite these difficulties, WHO believes stronger community participation is essential to slowing transmission. “We are really recentering all of the operational approach, all of our activities, around the engagement of the communities,” Bald\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":42688,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-42978","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Motorbike riders are emerging as a critical frontline defence against the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) deadliest Ebola outbreak, with health authorities recruiting riders to help identify infections, report suspected cases and strengthen community surveillance.","published_date":"","news_description":"Motorbike riders are emerging as a critical frontline defence against the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) deadliest Ebola outbreak, with health authorities recruiting riders to help identify infections, report suspected cases and strengthen community surveillance.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42979,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42978\/revisions\/42979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=42978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}